1. Field of the Technology
The technology presented herein relates to a recording medium storing a video game program and a video game device. More particularly, the technology relates to a recording medium storing a video game program to be executed on a computer of a video game device having a first display screen and a second display screen covered by a touch panel in which a game image is changed according to a change in the input to the second display screen, and to such a video game device.
2. Description of the Background Art
With a conventional video game device, the game space is displayed as a game image on a television set, or the like. A controller having a plurality of control keys is connected to the video game device, whereby the player can control a character in the game space. The video game device detects the output signal from the controller to determine which control key is being activated by the player, and changes the game image by changing the character image according to the action associated with the activated control key.
However, the physical shapes and arrangement of the control keys on the controller are fixed, and it is not possible with such a conventional video game device to provide control keys that are optimal for each particular game. In view of this, there have been video game devices using, instead of a controller, a display device provided with a touch panel or a tablet.
A video game device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2535301 displays images of control keys on a touch panel as required for each video game program, as shown in FIG. 3 thereof. Depending on which control key image is touched and selected, a function associated with the activated control key image is executed in the game.
In a video game device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-285259, graphic patterns and/or letters related to the game image displayed on a television set are displayed on a display device with a touch panel provided on the controller, as shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 thereof. When a graphic pattern or a letter is touched and selected with a finger, a function associated with the activated graphic pattern or letter is executed in the game.
In a video game device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-182092, a game image is displayed on a display device provided with a touch panel, as shown in FIG. 6 thereof. When the player touches a displayed object on the touch panel with a finger and moves the finger on the touch panel, the touched and selected object is moved in the game image according to the vector quantity of the movement of the player's finger.
In a video game device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-31256, a tablet and a flat display are layered together into a single component, and a golf course is depicted on the flat display as a game image, as shown in FIG. 2 thereof. A virtual ball flight is simulated with the shot direction being the direction of the series of coordinate positions corresponding to the trace of a pen left on the tablet by the player and the shot power being the interval between adjacent coordinate positions in the series of coordinate positions.
However, the video game device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2535301 and that disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-285259 only determine whether or not a graphic pattern, or the like, displayed on the display device under the touch panel of the controller is selected so as to accordingly execute a function associated with the activated graphic pattern in the game image. In other words, they use control keys displayed on a display device under a touch panel, instead of using physical control keys, and only provide a limited advantage that control keys can be freely provided in any shape and arrangement according to the type of the game.
With the video game device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-182092 and that disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-31256 aim at allowing the player to move an image laid over a touch panel or a tablet to an intended position in the game image. However, when an object to be moved is small, it is difficult for the player to accurately specify an intended move. Moreover, an object such as the player character to be moved in the game image by the player using a touch panel or a tablet may be hid from the player by the player's hand, thus detracting from the play ability of certain types of games in which the player can otherwise enjoy watching the movement of the player character.
Other types of devices, such as personal digital assistance (PDA) devices, also employ a touch panel, whereby the user can directly operate a graphic pattern displayed on a liquid crystal display device covered by the touch panel. Specifically, with a PDA, or the like, the user can “double-click” a graphic pattern such as a folder to open the folder or “drag” a graphic pattern such as an icon to move the icon. Thus, in a PDA, or the like, where it is important to reliably execute an operation intended by the user, the appearance of a graphic pattern that is directly touched by the user is changed. However, such a technique, if simply applied to an electronic game, will change the appearance of a player character that can be directly operated by the player, whereby the player may lose track of the player character. For example, assume that a number of triangular and circular control key graphic patterns are displayed on a display unit covered by a touch panel. If the player touches and activates one of the circular control keys and that circular control key is turned into a triangular control key as a result of the player's operation, the player is likely to lose track of the control key, which was circular before the player's operation.